# Measuring Human Rights: High School Mathematics Unit

## Instructional Approach

After viewing the movie with the students, inform students:

• Israel has become the first country to legislate minimum weights for fashion models. The minimum weight is based on the Body Mass Index. If a model’s BMI is under 18.5 (classified by WHO as underweight) she/he is banned from participating in modeling events in Israel.

• Explain that you are going to take a class vote about this policy. Each student has exactly one vote, and we will focus on whether you agree or disagree with the policy.

• Askstudents to raise their hand if they agree with the policy restricting models with a BMI<18.5

• Record their responses on the board. Draw a tick on the left side for every female who agrees, and on the right side for every male student who agrees with the policy.  Ask student to raise their hand if they do not agree with the policy. Repeat the recording method.

• Engagestudents in a brief conversation about their decision to “agree” or “disagree” with the policy. Do they think the policy promotes discrimination or saves lives?  Stay open to multiple perspectives.

• Segue to next task by asking them“Do you think there are gender differences in response to this policy?”  If yes, why? Explain that we will collectively examine their voting data and try to determine gender differences and then we will revisit this policy towards the end of the class.

• Askstudents if they have any suggestions about how to record their voting data. After taking a few suggestions tell students you are going to organize it according to male and female students’ votes.

• Draw (or project) the following table on the board:

Explain  that this kind of table is called a two-way frequency table. This kind of table is a powerful tool for examining the relationships between categorical variables (in our case male/female, and agree/disagree).

• Entries in the table are frequency counts.

• Entries in the body of the table are called joint frequencies.

• Entries in the total rows and the total columns are called marginal frequencies.

With the help of the students, fill the table using the information you previously recorded on the board. If possible, use color codes for each step.  Be explicit and consistent about the way you organize the data (see suggestions below).

Ask students if they can determine which variable is the independent variable. Independent variables are listed at the top row of the table. Dependent variables go on the left column

When filling the table use two colors (for example green and blue)

1. Start by filling the joint frequencies: the male and female votes, and the agree/disagree votes (all entered in green)

2. Once you are done, explain that in order to analyze this data it would be useful to fill the marginal frequencies. Proceed with filling the totals of the agree/disagree rows and the Male/Female columns (in blue). Make sure students recognize that the table total (in yellow) should sum to the number of students in the class.

3. Reiterate the process to the class:

We took the class vote and determined who does or does not agree with the policy. We recorded the results according to gender categories (Male/Female). The total row and the total column report the marginal frequencies, while entries in the body of the table are the joint frequencies.

Ask the class the following questions:

1.  What percent of all students agree with the policy? (In the given example 16/30 *100=53%)

2.  What percent of all students disagree with the policy? (In the given example 47%)

3.  What percent of female students agreed with the policy?  (In the given example 12/16*100= 75%)

4.  What percent of the male students agreed with the policy?   (In the given example 4/14 *100= 29%)

5.  What story does the table we just completed tell us?

Note for the teacher:

*In our sample, at first glance it looked like the class is pretty evenly divided about the policy. (53-47) Further analysis reveals there were some trends in the class: most female students agree with the policy and most male students disagree with it.

**Something to watch out for is the amount of female and male students taking part of the survey – their numbers can be misleading. One thing we can do to combat this is to turn some numbers into percentages. In this case, we can turn the number of males and females into percentages by calculating columns not rows.

### Small Group Work

• Divide students into pairs or trios and give students Handout # 2

Explain that each group will analyze the results of an online survey in which people were asked a similar question about whether they agree or not with the Israeli policy which restricts models with BMI< 18.5 from participating in modeling events in Israel.

### All Class Discussion

• Once the class reconvenes, post the empty table on the board.

Point to the first empty cell and ask students for help in filling this cell. Proceed with the same manner to the rest of the cells. Make sure to call on students from various groups or assign different groups to come up and complete their section of the table. Once the table is completed ask students to review with the students the answer to the questions on Handout #1.

• To conclude the lesson, go back to the original policy issue and ask probing questions, such as:

• The Israeli policy sets a minimum BMI at 18.5 for models hired to work in the fashion industry. Using the knowledge and calculations presented in lesson 8A, explain the effectiveness or accuracy of using 18.5 as the minimum standard.

• Who do you think this policy is trying to protect, the models or the general public?

• The Israeli policy sets the minimum BMI for models. However, some argue the policy aims to protect the general public. Explain how the policy accomplishes this goal.

• Article 25 of the UDHR states that "everyone has the right to security in the event of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control". Explain how this policy protects that right.

• Does the Israeli policy support or hinder the human right to have adequate food?  Does the Israeli policy support or hinder any other human rights?  (e.g., personal choice vs. population health)

### Homework

If teaching lesson #10 -Homework to prepare for Primary Source Lesson #10: Let students know that in the next Primary Source Lesson they will be studying a second website that presents data, statistics, and other information related to the measurement of human rights. Unlike the WHO website, however, this website has been developed as the brainchild of an individual, Hans Rosling, and his Gapminder Foundation. For homework (or enrichment if computers and tablets are not available at home), ask students to Google “Hans Rosling,” learn as much as they can about him from the links that come up, and be prepared to share something they have discovered or learned in the next class.

### Assessment

• Handouts
• Participation in small group and class discussion

### Differentiation and Supports

• Struggling: Skip questions 2-3 in small group worksheet. (Provide these students the information about the number of male and number of female in the survey)

• Advanced: extend from representing two categorical variables to 3 and more.

Supports

Support students when using websites, providing guidance about how to navigate the sites.

While students engage in small group activity, work with a small group of students who need extra support.